Sub-floor surfaces are often covered with resilient flooring products using adhesives. Such adhesives may be applied directly to the sub-floor, or to the back of the resilient tile products by the manufacturer. Flooring products often stay in place during use, and can be subjected to walking forces, dragging forces, rolling load forces, indentation forces, and sub-floor movement due to dimensional instability. Flooring products must stay flat, not curl. Seams, especially between tiles, must not move or open. There have been many attempts to develop flooring products that do not require adhesives. Some involve so-called “loose lay” constructions as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,258 and RE34,357. Many interlocking tile designs have been the subject of prior art patents. Recently, U.S. Pat. No. 7,155,871 discloses two-sided ship-lap vinyl plank with adhesive located on the ship-lap surface. However, none of these tile technologies have had significant commercial success. There remains a need for resilient decorative floor tiles that do not require adhesives.
Suction cups have been utilized in bath mat constructions as defined in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,014,779 and 2,081,992, and US Patent Application No. 2005/0100711. While this approach provides acceptable slip-resistance for light shower and bath mat applications, traditional suctions cups do not provide sufficient anti-skidding forces to prevent slippage do to movement in high traffic and high load areas. Traditional suction cups often yield an uneven mat surface which is more difficult for individuals and loads to traverse.